Part 2: The environmental and cultural facilitators that increase the impact of natural disasters on low-income communities and developing countries
Natural disasters and the extent of which they impact an area are closely related to issues of sustainability. Significant differences in the severity of a disaster can be attributed to poor upkeep of natural barriers due to exploitation of land due to commercial and industrial developments. There are environmental impacts of natural disasters such as loss of water, forest, biodiversity, and ecosystem function. Slow recovery from natural disasters and lack of resources increase poverty levels as well.
The main image in the collage is the marshlands of Louisiana that were completely destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. This is a specific example of how abusing natural barriers amplified the impact of a natural disaster. The image on the bottom right is the aftermath of the Port Au Prince Earthquake in Haiti in 2010. The image on the top right is a publication that discusses the challenges faced post-disaster in terms of sustainable rebuilding, solutions, and provided assistance. The poster bordering the top advertises an emergency information website that provides information on how to survive a disaster. This illustrates the severity of people’s demands during natural disasters.
Environmental Facilitators:
The most common conception of natural disasters is something along the lines of a naturally occurring force preying on a densely populated area, causing mass hysteria, death, confusion, and destruction. Now, if a natural force occurs in an area not populated or built up by humanity, it is not seen as a disaster, but merely as a naturally occurring event to continue to keep Mother Nature in balance with itself (i.e. naturally occurring forest fires that burn down old vegetation to clear way for new life). However, what people fail to realize is that human development, in terms of environmental exploitation and cultural structure (which will be discussed next) often times facilitates the severity of the naturally occurring event. Let’s take for example the hurricane that hit New Orleans in 2005. According to Sidney Coffee, executive assistant to the governor for coastal activities, erosion of wetlands directly impacted New Orleans’ ability to absorb the blow of a storm like Katrina (msnbc.com). The erosion of Louisiana’s wetlands is mostly due to the levees that are built around the city. The levees prevent the flooding of the Mississippi River from reaching certain housing communities in New Orleans. However, by not allowing the river to regularly flood the wetlands eliminates new fresh water and sediment from the region. This slowly causes the wetlands to compact and their ability to absorb heavy rains and waves diminishes.
Cultural Facilitators:
In the book, Rebuilding After Disasters: From Emergency to Sustainability, editor Gonzalo Lizarralde examines the relationship between major disasters and their occurrence in towns and cities in developing nations where resources are limited, people are vulnerable and needs are particularly great. Even before any natural disaster hits a region, there are already a series of man-made problems in place that are likely to make the disaster worse and reconstruction harder. For example, the earthquake that struck the Hispaniola island country of Haiti in January 2010 created devastating effects for the population. Prior to the earthquake, Haiti stood as one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere. Deforestation and over-farming has left the majority of the population living in poverty. Also, a long history of political instability and corruption has added to the turmoil as well as damaged basic infrastructure and economy. These elements of Haiti were precursors to the total flattening of the densely populated and poorly constructed Port-au-Prince, rise in crime, disband of Parliament, and inability to deliver aid due to poor infrastructure that occurred post-Earthquake.
Sustainable Reconstruction:
With environmental and cultural facilitators in mind, it is important to look to sustainable reconstruction despite the possible poverty, confusion, and disease that can flair up after a natural disaster. Building houses and tracing roads and parks at the margins of the law and without registered property title not only delays and thwarts the reconstruction of a region devastated by a natural disaster, it adds to the vulnerability of the population who have no alternative but to live in buildings that are constructed with little attention to existing safety codes (Lizarralde). This is compounded by poor homeowners having no government incentives to invest in safer housing because secure, legal ownership is not an option. It is important for local governments to reform a legal system so that it protects and empowers the poor majority. According to a quote by Hernando de Soto, the President of the Instituto Libertad y Democracia, in the book Rebuilding after Disasters, “As devastating as they always will be, neither hurricanes nor tsunamis can destroy the hidden infrastructure of the rule of the law” (preface).
Natural disasters and the extent of which they impact an area are closely related to issues of sustainability. Significant differences in the severity of a disaster can be attributed to poor upkeep of natural barriers due to exploitation of land due to commercial and industrial developments. There are environmental impacts of natural disasters such as loss of water, forest, biodiversity, and ecosystem function. Slow recovery from natural disasters and lack of resources increase poverty levels as well.
The main image in the collage is the marshlands of Louisiana that were completely destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. This is a specific example of how abusing natural barriers amplified the impact of a natural disaster. The image on the bottom right is the aftermath of the Port Au Prince Earthquake in Haiti in 2010. The image on the top right is a publication that discusses the challenges faced post-disaster in terms of sustainable rebuilding, solutions, and provided assistance. The poster bordering the top advertises an emergency information website that provides information on how to survive a disaster. This illustrates the severity of people’s demands during natural disasters.
Environmental Facilitators:
The most common conception of natural disasters is something along the lines of a naturally occurring force preying on a densely populated area, causing mass hysteria, death, confusion, and destruction. Now, if a natural force occurs in an area not populated or built up by humanity, it is not seen as a disaster, but merely as a naturally occurring event to continue to keep Mother Nature in balance with itself (i.e. naturally occurring forest fires that burn down old vegetation to clear way for new life). However, what people fail to realize is that human development, in terms of environmental exploitation and cultural structure (which will be discussed next) often times facilitates the severity of the naturally occurring event. Let’s take for example the hurricane that hit New Orleans in 2005. According to Sidney Coffee, executive assistant to the governor for coastal activities, erosion of wetlands directly impacted New Orleans’ ability to absorb the blow of a storm like Katrina (msnbc.com). The erosion of Louisiana’s wetlands is mostly due to the levees that are built around the city. The levees prevent the flooding of the Mississippi River from reaching certain housing communities in New Orleans. However, by not allowing the river to regularly flood the wetlands eliminates new fresh water and sediment from the region. This slowly causes the wetlands to compact and their ability to absorb heavy rains and waves diminishes.
Cultural Facilitators:
In the book, Rebuilding After Disasters: From Emergency to Sustainability, editor Gonzalo Lizarralde examines the relationship between major disasters and their occurrence in towns and cities in developing nations where resources are limited, people are vulnerable and needs are particularly great. Even before any natural disaster hits a region, there are already a series of man-made problems in place that are likely to make the disaster worse and reconstruction harder. For example, the earthquake that struck the Hispaniola island country of Haiti in January 2010 created devastating effects for the population. Prior to the earthquake, Haiti stood as one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere. Deforestation and over-farming has left the majority of the population living in poverty. Also, a long history of political instability and corruption has added to the turmoil as well as damaged basic infrastructure and economy. These elements of Haiti were precursors to the total flattening of the densely populated and poorly constructed Port-au-Prince, rise in crime, disband of Parliament, and inability to deliver aid due to poor infrastructure that occurred post-Earthquake.
Sustainable Reconstruction:
With environmental and cultural facilitators in mind, it is important to look to sustainable reconstruction despite the possible poverty, confusion, and disease that can flair up after a natural disaster. Building houses and tracing roads and parks at the margins of the law and without registered property title not only delays and thwarts the reconstruction of a region devastated by a natural disaster, it adds to the vulnerability of the population who have no alternative but to live in buildings that are constructed with little attention to existing safety codes (Lizarralde). This is compounded by poor homeowners having no government incentives to invest in safer housing because secure, legal ownership is not an option. It is important for local governments to reform a legal system so that it protects and empowers the poor majority. According to a quote by Hernando de Soto, the President of the Instituto Libertad y Democracia, in the book Rebuilding after Disasters, “As devastating as they always will be, neither hurricanes nor tsunamis can destroy the hidden infrastructure of the rule of the law” (preface).
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